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From the seat of his Freightliner, hauling brake rotors from Wisconsin to Ohio, bucking traffic around Chicago, regularly dodging close calls, Robert Johnson takes a dim view, generally speaking, of his fellow truck drivers.

“They’ll put anybody in a truck,” Johnson, who has 15 years at the wheel, said between bites of a sandwich and fries at a Milwaukee-area truck stop off Interstate 41. “Anybody who wants to drive.”

That, of course, is exaggeration. Applicants are rejected frequently. But trucking companies in fact are harder pressed than they’ve ever been to attract enough drivers to an industry that carries nearly 70 percent of all the freight that moves in the United States.

“It’s the worst we’ve ever seen,” Bob Costello, chief economist for the American Trucking Associations, said of the current driver shortage.

The shortage — Costello estimates it at nearly 48,000 drivers, the great bulk of them in the long-haul, truckload sector — is being felt industry-wide.

Companies such as Green Bay’s Schneider, one of the country’s largest carriers, are working to make schedules more predictable for over-the-road drivers. Roehl Transport, in the central Wisconsin city of Marshfield, lets them bring along a dog or cat under its new Pet Passport Program. Kreilkamp Trucking, about 35 miles outside Milwaukee, in Allenton, has begun doing its own driver training.

“Experienced drivers are not out there, so we have to make them,” President Tim Kreilkamp said.

Most significantly, the shortage has been driving up pay. Pay rates at Schneider have risen 4 percent to 10 percent over the last couple of years, Chief Operating Officer Mark Rourke said.

Kreilkamp, which says its drivers average $55,000 to $65,000 a year, has raised pay, too, and probably will raise it again, Tim Kreilkamp said.

Both firms pay bonuses for new drivers. Kreilkamp’s bonuses go to truckers who bring in recruits. Schneider is paying retention bonuses of $5,000 to $10,000 to new drivers who stick with the company, something the carrier was not doing several years ago.

Nationwide, pay for long-distance truckload drivers has been increasing much faster than for production and non-supervisory employees generally, data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show. From 2009 through 2014, the truckers’ average weekly earnings rose 19 percent — half again as much as the increase for non-supervisory workers as a whole.

That marked a sharp reversal from the previous five years, when the increase in pay for the truck drivers lagged far behind that of other workers.

But even with the gains, long-haul truckers’ pay — it averages about $46,000 a year, according to BLS — is not attracting enough people to a job with long hours and extended time away from home.

Boosting wages further isn’t the entire answer, but pay definitely needs to rise more, Costello said.

Source of article click here: News Sentinel

'A controversial proposal to allow heavier trucks on interstate highways in an effort to save shippers time and money was rejected by the House on Tuesday, one of dozens of amendments expected to be offered to a sweeping transportation bill this week.

'The amendment, defeated by a vote of 236-187, would have allowed states to increase the maximum weight for trucks to 91,000 pounds from the current 80,000 pounds. It was supported by manufacturers, shippers and trucking companies who said it would make freight shipments more efficient and reduce the number of trucks on the road. Rep. Reid Ribble, R-Wis., lead sponsor of the amendment, has said trucks leave dairy farms and paper mills in his district half full because they've reached the maximum weight limit.

'The amendment was opposed by the railroad industry, which stood to lose business to trucks if it passed; safety advocates, who said it would lead to more traffic deaths; and most Democrats, who complained it would lead to more wear and tear on roads and undermine safety.

'"We are facing a capacity crunch in the United States today," Ribble said, adding that freight tonnage overall is forecast to increase 25 percent in next decade. He noted that about half of states already allow heavier trucks on state and local roads. It would be safer, he said, to move those trucks onto interstates instead.

'"That presumes moms, dads and kids don't use the interstate highway system. In my district, they do," shot back Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass.

'The amendment was offered to a bill to set transportation policy for the next six years. It is the first major bill on the House floor since Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., became speaker last week, and lawmakers plan to spend days debating scores of amendments. That reflected Ryan's promise to give rank-and-file lawmakers greater clout in shaping legislation - something they complained they lacked under Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who resigned under fire last week.

'The amendment has been the focus of an intense lobbying battle between the Coalition for Transportation Productivity, which represents industries supporting heavier trucks, and the Association of American Railroads, which represents freight railroads.

'"The added truck weight will further destroy precious national infrastructure and cost taxpayers dearly," Edward R. Hamberger, president of the railroad associations, said.

Source of article click here:  abc 7

Police say 24 year old Travis Wharton was on drugs when he jumped onto semi

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WEST VALLEY CITY (ABC4 Utah News) - A man was injured Wednesday when he jumped from the underside of an overpass onto a truck passing underneath.

West Valley City Police identified the man as 24 year old Travis Wharton and say he was under the influence of drugs around 1:30 pm when he climbed on the metal girders forming the underside of the Highway 201 overpass at 3200 West.

According to West Valley City Police Department spokesperson Roxeanne Vainuku, a WVCPD officer ordered Wharton to get down. Instead he jumped on to the top of a passing semi trailer that was turning left onto eastbound Highway 201.

"So the officer very quickly jumps in his car, followed this semi and pulls it over a couple of blocks away as it got on to the 201 Freeway," Vainuku said. "This driver had no idea there was a person on top of his vehicle."

The impact from the approxmately six foot drop apparently injured Wharton.

"He was unresponsive at the time so medical teams have gone up there and started working with him to check him out," Vainuku said. "(They) got him off the top of the semi and are transporting him now to the hospital."

After he was released from Jordan Valley Medical Center's West Valley Campus - he was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for outstanding warrants.

Wharton has a criminal record including several past charges for drug and alcohol offenses

Source of article click here: Good 4 Utah

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Truckers said they have a better idea than Gov. Gina Raimondo's plan that relies heavily on a truck toll to raise money so the state can fix decrepit roads and bridges.

Raimondo's already knocking it, saying the truckers' plan puts the burden on local companies, rather than out of state truckers passing through.

"Shifting the burden from predominately out-of-state trucks, to predominately Rhode Island trucks might serve the policy interests of the national trucking lobby - who oppose user fees no matter what - but that doesn't mean it's good for Rhode Island," Raimondo's spokeswoman said in a statement to NBC 10 News.

The trucking industry knows if tolls pop up on Rhode Island bridges, the idea could spread cross county.

"There are no other states in the country tolling trucks only," said Christopher Maxwell of the Rhode Island Trucking Association. "It's a bench mark issue."

Now, the association is fighting Raimondo's proposed multi-million dollar plan with its own proposal.

First, the group wants to increase truck registration fees by $500 per year.

"It's one time a year," Maxwell said. "A truck could realize $500 a week in tolling costs."

Second, the group proposes an 18 cent increase to the diesel fuel tax.

It also wants to rescind tax credit and refinance GARVEE bonds.

In total, Maxwell thinks those changes will raise about $55 million a year, which is less than what the Raimondo said she needs.

"There's no mystery, unlike tolls which could fluctuate up and down," Maxwell said.

Rhode Island Republicans have their own plan, but they and the association are trying to poke holes in a report put out by the Department of Transportation that supports the governor's plan.

Source of article click here: Turn to 10

Trucking firms in Minnesota, and the nation as a whole, are increasingly struggling to fill their driver's seats.

KSTP reports that the trucking industry is short tens of thousands of drivers nationwide— and the gap will increase in the coming years. Employers are boosting pay and perks to lure and retain workers, but demographics are working against them.

The shortage is playing out in Minnesota, as well. The state Department of Employment and Economic Development says that worker retirements and other changes will mean that Minnesota will have a net loss of 50,000 truckers over the next 15 years.

Not all firms are suffering equally. Eagan-based Dart Transit Co. says that increased pay and truck amenities enabled it to grow its trucking fleet this year for the first time since the recession.

Source of article click here: Business Journal